Rangel: Texas Democrat leads opposition with GOP rules

Enrique Rangel

Saturday

Oct 29, 2011 at 12:01 AM

AUSTIN - Before this year's legislative session started in January, the conventional wisdom in Austin was the Democratic minority didn't have a prayer, particularly in the House of Representatives where Republicans have a 101-49 super majority.

But like his fellow Democrats, Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer decided he couldn't afford to roll over.

As a 10-year House veteran, the 41-year old San Antonio attorney figured early on one of his most effective weapons to stop legislation he and other Democrats deemed harmful to their constituents was to use the House rules the Republican super-majority approved.

Thus, every time Martinez Fischer walked up the House microphone and said "Mr. Speaker!" Republicans anticipated trouble. And no wonder. He called 16 points of order - technicalities which can derail a bill - and 11 were successful, by far the most among all House members.

"He's someone you feared going back to the mike," Rep. Patricia Harless, R-Spring, the House sponsor of the controversial voter ID bill, told the Austin American-Statesman.

Martinez Fischer's aggressive and successful approach led Texas Monthly to honor him with a special "Bull of the Brazos" recognition in the magazine's highly watched list of 10 best and 10 worst legislators published at the end of the session.

This brings us to his other major role as legislator. Martinez Fischer chairs the Mexican American Legislative Caucus and thanks mainly to the year-long redistricting battle, he has made the 39-member group the most visible of all legislative caucuses in recent history.

In short, in the current two-year legislative cycle Martinez Fischer - or TMF to many of his colleagues - has become the most visible Democrat in the Legislature, the face of his party and of MALC.

For those who may wonder why this matters to West Texas, MALC is one of the leading plaintiffs in the year-long redistricting battle being fought in federal courts in Washington and San Antonio. And what happens in those courts could determine the political representation of the region and of the entire state for this decade.

On Monday, the court in San Antonio will hold hearings on the possibility of interim maps for the 2012 election. And on Wednesday the court in Washington will hear oral arguments on the state motion for pre-clearance of the maps the Republican-dominated Legislature approved.

MALC and the other plaintiffs argue the maps Republican lawmakers passed over the objections of the Democratic minority are unconstitutional because they did not create any opportunity districts for racial minorities even though non-whites accounted for nearly 90 percent of the state's explosive growth in the last decade.

Thus, as the redistricting battle goes on, Martinez Fischer is likely to continue being in the spotlight, even though the Legislature is no longer in session. This also means being the target of criticism.

During the session, for example, Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, chairman of the chamber's Republican Caucus, grew weary of the parliamentary tactics Martinez Fischer and other Democrats used to derail or to delay passage of bills they opposed.

"We are not going to let a handful of members overrule the will of the House," Taylor told the Houston Chronicle. "We are going to win and they are going to lose."

However, Martinez Fischer said the criticism is part of what he signed up for when, at age 29, he decided to run for state representative.

"When you run for public office you make a commitment to your family and to your constituents that you are going to fight for their interests and that's what I am doing," he said.

"When the Republicans try to pass mean-spirited legislation that cuts public education and public health, I will use whatever rules are at my disposal - rules that the Republicans approved - and exercise my legislative ability," he added. "If they don't like that, they shouldn't attack me … they should change the rules instead."